This paper presents OPEN, an open-source software platform for integrated modelling, control and simulation of smart local energy systems. Electric power systems are undergoing a fundamental transition towards a significant proportion of generation and flexibility being provided by distributed energy resources. The concept of 'smart local energy systems' brings together related strategies for localised management of distributed energy resources, including active distribution networks, microgrids, energy communities, multi-energy hubs, peer-to-peer trading platforms and virtual power plants. OPEN provides an extensible platform for developing and testing new smart local energy system management applications, helping to bridge the gap between academic research and industry translation. OPEN combines features for managing smart local energy systems which are not provided together by existing energy management tools, including multi-phase distribution network power flow, energy market modelling, nonlinear energy storage modelling and receding horizon optimisation. The platform is implemented in Python with an object-oriented structure, providing modularity and allowing it to be easily integrated with thirdparty packages. Case studies are presented, demonstrating how OPEN can be used for a range of smart local energy system applications due to its support of multiple model fidelities for simulation and control. Highlights • Presents the Open Platform for Energy Networks (OPEN), github.com/EPGOxford/OPEN • Integrated modelling, control & simulation framework for smart local energy systems • The object-oriented approach offers modularity, code reuse & extensibility • Development has been motivated by four industry-academic demonstration projects • Case studies demonstrate how OPEN can be extended for new applications

There are high numbers of remote villages that still need electrification in some countries. Extension of the central electrical power network to these villages is not viable owing to the high costs and power losses involved. Isolated power systems such as rural microgrids based on renewables could be a potential solution. Photovoltaics (PV) technology is particularly suited for countries like India due to factors such as the available solar resource, the modularity of the technology and low technology costs. It was identified that unlike larger isolated power systems, rural microgrids have a low energy demand as the loads are mainly residential and street lighting. Hence, these microgrids could be of a single-phase configuration. At present, the typical procedure followed by planners of rural networks does not consider the importance of PV source siting and optimisation of network structure. An improved design procedure is introduced in this work based on the use of centres of moments for central PV system sizing, simulated annealing for network structure optimisation and load flow based parametric analysis for confirming the PV microgrid structure before detailed software-based PV design. Case studies of two remote villages are used to inform and illustrate the design procedure.

In Europe, space and water heating account for approximately 80% of final energy use in the domestic sector. For many European countries the electrification of heat provision, via heat pumps (HPs), provides a promising decarbonisation pathway. The UK is no different, but recently concerns have been raised about the financial attractiveness of HPs given how, through various policy choices, taxes and levies are applied more heavily on electricity bills than gas bills. In this paper, we critically examine this argument by assessing the financial attractiveness of HPs across their lifetime for a typical UK household and within the current UK tax and regulatory regime. The results suggest taxes and levies do weaken the economic case for HPs: their current distribution having an unintended impact on the economics of HPs. Nonetheless, they are not the only reason for HPs comparative financial disadvantage. Upfront costs and HP performance, both influence the extent to which taxes and levies impact the economics of HPs. The results have implications for the future deployment of HPs in the UK and point towards policies to increase deployment (to drive down costs) and increase HP performance as being important.

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Interconnection of two autonomous swarm grids (DC clusters) which are designed for energy access can increase power supply availability for power hungry appliances such as water pumps. Here, a surplus or a deficit power in one cluster is balanced by a second cluster through power exchange. Usually, the clusters are connected by a tie line if bus voltages in both clusters are equal and constant. If the bus voltages are different and constant, a single converter is used to interconnect the clusters and to control the power flow between them. In both interconnections, power flow is triggered by bus voltage variations from their constant values. However, if the bus voltages are different and are not constant, the coordination of the power exchange between the clusters is a challenge. In this paper, two buck-boost converters are proposed to interconnect the clusters that have different and unregulated bus voltages. To control the power exchange while reducing transmission line loss, a decentralized control approach which is composed of a voltage droop control method and a mid-point voltage control method is proposed. Simulations of two interconnected clusters carried out in MATLAB/Simulink software show how the proposed control method can efficiently coordinate the power exchange.